Removing our Hands, Feet, and Eyes

Overview

Joshua Cooper, lead teacher

Jesus calls us to remove the hand, foot, or eye that causes us to sin. Graphic, to say the least. But what is Jesus really talking about here? Surely he isn’t being literal? To see what is going on here, we must tie this teaching in with the context of the conversation. When Jesus was asked who the greatest in His Kingdom was, he responded in a peculiar way… by pulling aside a child and proclaiming that the Kingdom belonged those who are child-like. He then gives a stark warning to anyone who might bring harm to one of these little ones. But what is Jesus really teaching us here and what is his warning really against? As we will see this week, it is a message with profound social and political implications about how the choices we make might affect “the least of these.”